The first real figures for Net advertisers should boost this medium, writes
Jacquie Golding-Duffy
Advertising agencies may finally be lured into marketing their goods more vigorously on the Internet, as the major South African auditing firms move into the arena to provide more “honest” electronic publishing statistics.
The Internet has been both the most measurable of media and the least credible. As all operations are computerised, electronic publishers can provide advertisers with far more detailed information about their readers than other media. It is also possible to provide limited demographic information about which countries readers come from, and what fields they are in.
But the Internet is also the least credible medium for two reasons:
* The publishers themselves have produced the figures until now and there has been no independent verification. At least half-a- dozen South African sites claim to be the “most visited” in the country.
* Different publishers have used different measuring yardsticks, and advertisers have often been unaware that pears have been compared to apples.
In the last two months, major auditing companies such as Deloitte & Touche and Coopers & Lybrand have offered their services as neutral and unbiased compilers of online statistics.
Deloitte & Touche has opened a Strategic Internet Consulting division, which aims to set a standard for web sites, allowing for a benchmark to be established which ensures that everyone is comparing the same figures, says Dominique Pousson, Deloitte & Touche’s Internet marketing manager.
Pousson says the company’s service is to provide a third-party guarantee to advertisers, allowing them to get a fair reflection of the site’s popularity.
Media directors at various advertising agencies are excited by the new development. “Moves into Internet auditing by reputable accounting firms will greatly assist media planners, buyers and strategists as they are able to provide clients with concrete unbiased statistics,” said one media director. Another director agreed, saying that Internet advertising has not taken off, as yet, because of scepticism about the certainty of statistics provided by the web site promoters.
Coopers & Lybrand senior manager of computer assurance services Michael Wright agrees that web sites lack credibility as some publishers have doctored their figures which advertisers have been unable to rely on.
“Now advertisers are able to see exactly whether the rates they are being charged by any one particular web site is reasonable or not, proportional to the number of people who access that particular web site.
Statistical analysis and assurance are the key functions provided by accounting firms, says Wright, adding that web statistics are also useful to technical staff managing the web site, who need to assess traffic congestion.
Deloitte & Touche has such clients as the Mail & Guardian, Business Day and Business Times, and the major corporate Internet service provider, The Internet Solution. Deloitte & Touche is also holding talks with the Independent Group with an eye on The Star’s online service.
Coopers & Lybrand has two clients, an online-only independent business journal called Woza, and the E-Data web site.
Times Media Limited electronic publishing manager Roy Isacowitz says the reason TML uses Deloitte & Touche is largely for credibility. “We can easily produce our own results but we do not expect the public or advertisers to take our word. But if they get the results from a reputable firm, then we are going a long way in ensuring that advertisers have accurate figures which they are entitled to if we want them to advertise on our site.”
Media directors say the stamp of approval from accounting firms will encourage potential clients to consider using the medium to advertise.